And pretty much all of the ideas existed pre-STAR TREK, too. I would not be surprised if FORBIDDEN PLANET had strongly influenced Roddenberry.

Apparently it did. Considering that the two Star Trek pilots dealt with mind power stories (not very original after FORBIDDEN PLANET) I'm relieved they got their act together and presented a solid and original Star Trek story with "The Corbomite Maneuver" highlighting the adventureous but also dangerous business of going where no man had gone before.

Metryq wrote:

"Balance of Terror" is the TOS version of THE ENEMY BELOW.

Yes. Now was it Curd Jürgens or Hardy Krüger playing the German submarine captain ?

Metryq wrote:

In an interview, Spinrad said "The Doomsday Machine" was MOBY DICK inspired.

Indeed, Commodore Decker displayed quite an Ahab Complex.
Much better though than what we saw with Khan in ST II (too derivative, IMHO, I would have expected more ingenuity from the "superior intellect" ).

Bob

__________________
"The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth" Jean-Luc Picard
"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." Albert Einstein